Johnny Silverlight

The sun alone would make leaving the Sunlit Man planet difficult. Once your spacecraft leaves the shadow of the planet, it would be fully exposed to the light/heat/Investiture of the sun, without even an atmosphere to shield it.

Thank you very much for posting that, Elegy! So we clearly have four new Cosmere planets that lie in three different solar systems that we haven't read about before. I believe it's safe to say that none of these planets lie in the same solar system except for Yumi's world and Painter's world. Lumar's sun is yellow, the sun featured in Sunlit Man is so powerfully Invested it would have been obvious in any other story, and the Sun from Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is described as dark red with black blotches.

On Yumi's world, the sun is described as dark red with black blotches. In the Nalthian system chart, the sun is depicted as yellow, like ours. I can't remember if anyone in Warbreaker described the sun's color or not.

Brandon has said that someone who can wield Investiture would gain more benefits and powers from a Dawnshard than someone who cannot. Rysn was not Invested when she became the Dawnshard, but Sigzil is highly Invested as a Knight Radiant. He would probably have more effect on him than her.

Two possibilities for the Intent of the Survival Shard. 1. Compassion. The Shard's Vessel may be hiding because it doesn't want harm to come to the inhabitants of another planet, so hiding out in space would protect others. 2. Knowledge. This Vessel may know enough about the situation throughout the Cosmere to understand that hiding themselves would be the best option (both for themselves and for others).

If there was a shard of Knowledge, that would be the one I would most want. Since there isn't, I would definitely choose Invention. My second choice would be Virtuosity.

I have a gut feeling that Auxiliary is a dead Knight Radiant that Sigzil/Nomad bonded somehow, in the manner of a Radiant spren. Brandon has said that it is possible to bond a Threnodite shade in this manner.

In the Sunlit Man, Nomad refers to someone being "on Alethkar." I think this is a very interesting turn of phrase. When referring to a nation or country, in English the preposition "in" is used to refer to being within its borders. For example, English speakers will say "in America" or "in Europe." The preposition "on" is generally used for worlds and planets; for example, "on Earth" and "on the moon." I theorize that by the time of the Sunlit Man, the planet Roshar will be called Alethkar. This might indicate that the nation of Alethkar will conquer all other nations on the planet.

The only way I could see Yumi and Painter's planets being in the Nalthian system would be if they were actually two of the moons orbiting the gas giant Farkeeper the Bright. The largest of Farkeeper's moons (the one to the left) looks like it might have oceans and continents on it.

My theory is that the Threnodites already had all their technology with them when they arrived on this planet.

There is a brief reference to thunder, so there must be rain on this planet.

I think the third picture ("flat-topped: this configuration has 3 fold symmetry: 4 offset rings of 3 moons each") is closest to what Brandon described in his spoiler stream about Secret Project #1.

I got the following two major impressions from reading Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell: 1. Shades are associated with the Forests on the continent of Hell. They do not seem to have been a factor in daily life in the Homeland, the original continent where most/all of humanity resided. It is said that the Forescouts discovered the Three Simple Rules that allow living humans to dwell among the Shades. This was clearly a new discovery 2. Threnodites only become Shades when they're killed by the touch of another Shade. At no point in the novella is it stated or even implied that all Threnodites become Shades after they die. Of course, we have no idea when Shadows for Silence takes place in the Cosmere Timeline. The situation on Threnody may have changed drastically by time The Sunlit Man takes place.

I suspect that Auxiliary is the cognitive shadow (essentially the ghost) of a dead Knight Radiant.

I know this will be a RAFO, but "Is Auxiliary a dead Knight Radiant?"

You mentioned "fay" along with seons and spren in the reading from Project #3. First, are these "fay" similar to the fairies, pixies, and sprites that appear in European folkore? Second, are these fay splinters of Whimsy's power?

What are the official Cosmere names of Yumi's world and Painter's world? By that I mean, what names have worldhoppers and scholars like Khriss given those worlds?

My own theory about the Cognitive Anomaly. It represents the point in Nalthis's orbit where the planet was located when Nightblood was created. Yes, the creation of one of the most heavily Invested objects in the Cosmere was so disturbing that it created an cognitive "snapshot" of the entire planet!

You know, those objects in the sky to either side of the figure in the foreground could be kites.... It's been fascinating how appropriate the temporary covers are to the stories inside their books. When you know the story, the cover suddenly seems so obvious!

Another thing to bear in mind is that Painter's people only believe that the Shroud appeared 1,700 years ago. He pretty much admits that what his people have are fragments of that time which are more myth and/or legend than history. The Shroud could easily have arrived at a later time.

The main difference is that the Nightmares are clearly being generated by the Shroud, while Shades definitely existed on Threnody before the appearance of the Evil. The people on Threnody knew about the continent where the Shades reside before the Evil appeared, which is why they named that continent Hell. They only fled to Hell because it was the only other known continent on their world, and the Shades were seen as a much lesser threat than the Evil.

Japanese and Korean are believed by some linguists to be distantly related to each other. Other linguists disagree, however.

Wisdom. Or possibly Knowledge.

Another element of the cover that could match Silence Divine is the clothing that the figure in the foreground is wearing. It looks like some kind of military uniform. In the two opening chapters that Brandon read, the Incubators (the organization to which the protagonist belonged) are described as wearing uniforms. However, the Incubators' uniform is described as "blue and yellow," which doesn't match the color theme of the cover. Of course, Brandon might have changed the color of those uniforms in the new draft. Or perhaps the color theme is meant to represent the word of Ashyn and not the uniform worn by the figure we see.

Another possibility: His last meal on Earth included fish. Whether or not he ate it (perhaps feeling for some reason that he had to), he might still remember being disgusted by the smell when he was transferred to "his" dimension.